baseline
Sep 16, 07, 6:22 am
Confusion over 2-for-1 offer frustrates JetBlue customers
Sunday, September 16, 2007
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When JetBlue Airways marked its first Pittsburgh anniversary with a two-for-one ticket offer in late June, Lois Clipper of North Huntingdon read about it in the newspaper and called the airline to make sure she knew how to take advantage of such a rare proposal.
The advice she received over the phone matched what she read in the Post-Gazette -- go to www.jetblue.com, register for the airline's TrueBlue frequent flier program (she was already a member), reserve a flight leaving Pittsburgh between June 26 and Nov. 15 and complete that reservation no later than June 30. She purchased a $78 round-trip ticket to New York and left Aug. 16.
After returning, she waited a week and called up her TrueBlue account -- no free flight had been registered.
So she called the airline -- four times.
" 'There is nothing we can do. It's a technicality,' " she said one person told her. The airline, the 61-year-old Ms. Clipper said, was "not willing to bend at all."
What the Post-Gazette and that first JetBlue telephone representative failed to mention is that Ms. Clipper also needed to access a special Web address created strictly for the purpose of tracking the promotion. JetBlue included the temporary link (www.jetblue.com/pittsburgh) in a news release, but the Post-Gazette directed passengers to the company's main Web site -- www.jetblue.com, which lacked any mention of the free-ticket promotion.
In the past month and a half, 16 passengers have contacted the Post-Gazette, via e-mail or phone, to complain about the offer. Some blame the Post-Gazette for not providing enough information. Some blame JetBlue for not living up to its promise of a free flight -- regardless of how the details may have been misconstrued. Only one of the 16 angry passengers -- Kelly O'Toole of Marshall -- has thus far persuaded JetBlue to give her the free flight. Ms. O'Toole, like Ms. Clipper, said she talked to a JetBlue customer service worker before booking her flight and was never told about the existence of a separate Web site.
"Nice to see they are handling this fairly," Ms. O'Toole said in an e-mail after her problem was resolved.
The Forest Hills, N.Y.-based carrier is now examining the Pittsburgh complaints on a "case by case" basis, according to JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin. But "we are going to stick to our guns that all the information the airline provided was accurate and contained all the necessary details for participating in that promotion."
If customers contacted JetBlue prior to booking a flight and received the wrong information, as Ms. O'Toole did, "we can look into that," he added. But if they went for the two-for-one offer based solely on the Post-Gazette's article, "we feel like we can't be held responsible" for how the media chooses to communicate "the details of the promotion."
Or, as one customer representative told Chatham College student Julie Arnheim: "We cannot be held responsible because [the reporter] failed to mention important details on how to qualify for the promotion." Ms. Arnheim, who lives in Point Breeze and purchased a ticket to visit her boyfriend in New York, wrote back: "I am really surprised JetBlue customer service is suggesting I contact the newspaper vs. handling this in a way which would not create bad publicity."
Founded in 2000, JetBlue built its business on great customer service and a pledge to "bring humanity back to air travel." And passengers responded, consistently ranking it as among their favorite U.S. airlines, approving of the TVs in every seat, the free chips and cookies and the leather seats.
A Valentine's Day storm this year tested JetBlue's sterling reputation as some passengers at JFK sat on the tarmac for up to 11 hours without much food or working toilets. The carrier responded with a well-received passenger Bill of Rights -- a pledge to provide refunds and travel vouchers to anyone who experienced flight delays or cancellations. And founder David Neeleman stepped down as chief executive officer to make way for operations chief Dave Barger, who as CEO brings a new sense of discipline to the still-fledgling carrier.
In Pittsburgh, though, JetBlue has struggled to gain visibility. While traffic on its routes is up and fares are down, many passengers to Boston and New York continue to choose US Airways instead. This summer's free promotion -- the first of its kind in JetBlue history -- was part of a strategy to raise the carrier's profile in the Pittsburgh area a year after getting started here, calling the free flight a "gift for area residents" in its news release.
"Try us and give us the benefit of lowering fares," Mr. Barger said during a June 26 visit Downtown.
JetBlue would not disclose how many people took advantage of the two-for-one offer, saying such information was confidential. And while "we continue to see increasing demand for our [Pittsburgh] service," the spokesman said, "the market is still maturing slower than some of the cities we added in 2006."
The confusion about the free ticket is not helping JetBlue's cause locally. "They certainly haven't gained my loyalty," said passenger and Pittsburgh-area resident Joanne Greenwald, who wrote to the company and received back a message explaining that the June 27 article in the Post-Gazette "was not written or submitted by JetBlue Airways," and that "we are not responsible for misprints or if the full terms and conditions were not included in the newspaper article."
Many passengers are not willing to give up the fight for their free flight, either. One is Jacqueline Scott, who blames the Post-Gazette for misleading her and said she remains "frustrated and confused as to what to do." And "I do not know where to turn. It is not the flier's fault, but rather there was some form of miscommunication between the Post-Gazette and JetBlue."
Ms. Clipper, 61, the retiree from North Huntingdon, called JetBlue for the fourth time on Wednesday and talked to a man who told her his name was named David in Salt Lake City, where many JetBlue reservations and customer service agents are based. "David told me if he had the power to do something he would do something," Ms. Clipper said. But she said David told her the decision not to make a manual adjustment and grant the promotion retroactively "came from very high and there is nothing he can do about it. He was very gracious and very apologetic.
As was Mr. Baldwin, JetBlue's spokesman, during an interview on Friday.
"I certainly understand the frustration for people who thought they were doing everything right and it turns out they weren't," he said. But he argued that JetBlue did its best to communicate all details of the offer to the Post-Gazette.
"I'm sorry that you've received calls from individuals who didn't qualify for this promotion," he said in a prior e-mail. "While in the past your reporting has always been accurate, this time a critical point was missed."
First published on September 16, 2007 at 12:00 am
Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When JetBlue Airways marked its first Pittsburgh anniversary with a two-for-one ticket offer in late June, Lois Clipper of North Huntingdon read about it in the newspaper and called the airline to make sure she knew how to take advantage of such a rare proposal.
The advice she received over the phone matched what she read in the Post-Gazette -- go to www.jetblue.com, register for the airline's TrueBlue frequent flier program (she was already a member), reserve a flight leaving Pittsburgh between June 26 and Nov. 15 and complete that reservation no later than June 30. She purchased a $78 round-trip ticket to New York and left Aug. 16.
After returning, she waited a week and called up her TrueBlue account -- no free flight had been registered.
So she called the airline -- four times.
" 'There is nothing we can do. It's a technicality,' " she said one person told her. The airline, the 61-year-old Ms. Clipper said, was "not willing to bend at all."
What the Post-Gazette and that first JetBlue telephone representative failed to mention is that Ms. Clipper also needed to access a special Web address created strictly for the purpose of tracking the promotion. JetBlue included the temporary link (www.jetblue.com/pittsburgh) in a news release, but the Post-Gazette directed passengers to the company's main Web site -- www.jetblue.com, which lacked any mention of the free-ticket promotion.
In the past month and a half, 16 passengers have contacted the Post-Gazette, via e-mail or phone, to complain about the offer. Some blame the Post-Gazette for not providing enough information. Some blame JetBlue for not living up to its promise of a free flight -- regardless of how the details may have been misconstrued. Only one of the 16 angry passengers -- Kelly O'Toole of Marshall -- has thus far persuaded JetBlue to give her the free flight. Ms. O'Toole, like Ms. Clipper, said she talked to a JetBlue customer service worker before booking her flight and was never told about the existence of a separate Web site.
"Nice to see they are handling this fairly," Ms. O'Toole said in an e-mail after her problem was resolved.
The Forest Hills, N.Y.-based carrier is now examining the Pittsburgh complaints on a "case by case" basis, according to JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin. But "we are going to stick to our guns that all the information the airline provided was accurate and contained all the necessary details for participating in that promotion."
If customers contacted JetBlue prior to booking a flight and received the wrong information, as Ms. O'Toole did, "we can look into that," he added. But if they went for the two-for-one offer based solely on the Post-Gazette's article, "we feel like we can't be held responsible" for how the media chooses to communicate "the details of the promotion."
Or, as one customer representative told Chatham College student Julie Arnheim: "We cannot be held responsible because [the reporter] failed to mention important details on how to qualify for the promotion." Ms. Arnheim, who lives in Point Breeze and purchased a ticket to visit her boyfriend in New York, wrote back: "I am really surprised JetBlue customer service is suggesting I contact the newspaper vs. handling this in a way which would not create bad publicity."
Founded in 2000, JetBlue built its business on great customer service and a pledge to "bring humanity back to air travel." And passengers responded, consistently ranking it as among their favorite U.S. airlines, approving of the TVs in every seat, the free chips and cookies and the leather seats.
A Valentine's Day storm this year tested JetBlue's sterling reputation as some passengers at JFK sat on the tarmac for up to 11 hours without much food or working toilets. The carrier responded with a well-received passenger Bill of Rights -- a pledge to provide refunds and travel vouchers to anyone who experienced flight delays or cancellations. And founder David Neeleman stepped down as chief executive officer to make way for operations chief Dave Barger, who as CEO brings a new sense of discipline to the still-fledgling carrier.
In Pittsburgh, though, JetBlue has struggled to gain visibility. While traffic on its routes is up and fares are down, many passengers to Boston and New York continue to choose US Airways instead. This summer's free promotion -- the first of its kind in JetBlue history -- was part of a strategy to raise the carrier's profile in the Pittsburgh area a year after getting started here, calling the free flight a "gift for area residents" in its news release.
"Try us and give us the benefit of lowering fares," Mr. Barger said during a June 26 visit Downtown.
JetBlue would not disclose how many people took advantage of the two-for-one offer, saying such information was confidential. And while "we continue to see increasing demand for our [Pittsburgh] service," the spokesman said, "the market is still maturing slower than some of the cities we added in 2006."
The confusion about the free ticket is not helping JetBlue's cause locally. "They certainly haven't gained my loyalty," said passenger and Pittsburgh-area resident Joanne Greenwald, who wrote to the company and received back a message explaining that the June 27 article in the Post-Gazette "was not written or submitted by JetBlue Airways," and that "we are not responsible for misprints or if the full terms and conditions were not included in the newspaper article."
Many passengers are not willing to give up the fight for their free flight, either. One is Jacqueline Scott, who blames the Post-Gazette for misleading her and said she remains "frustrated and confused as to what to do." And "I do not know where to turn. It is not the flier's fault, but rather there was some form of miscommunication between the Post-Gazette and JetBlue."
Ms. Clipper, 61, the retiree from North Huntingdon, called JetBlue for the fourth time on Wednesday and talked to a man who told her his name was named David in Salt Lake City, where many JetBlue reservations and customer service agents are based. "David told me if he had the power to do something he would do something," Ms. Clipper said. But she said David told her the decision not to make a manual adjustment and grant the promotion retroactively "came from very high and there is nothing he can do about it. He was very gracious and very apologetic.
As was Mr. Baldwin, JetBlue's spokesman, during an interview on Friday.
"I certainly understand the frustration for people who thought they were doing everything right and it turns out they weren't," he said. But he argued that JetBlue did its best to communicate all details of the offer to the Post-Gazette.
"I'm sorry that you've received calls from individuals who didn't qualify for this promotion," he said in a prior e-mail. "While in the past your reporting has always been accurate, this time a critical point was missed."
First published on September 16, 2007 at 12:00 am
Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.